Swaziland is a lower middle-income country & 63% of Swazis live below the poverty line. 19,000 children aged 0-14 years lived with HIV in 2015. In children with HIV/AIDS, growth impairment often occurs before opportunistic infections or other symptoms are present. It's likely to accelerate disease progression, increase morbidity & reduce survival. Nutritional support is very important to the care of HIV-infected children and TFCF food packs will help appropriate growth and development for them.
WHO noted that nutritional support should be integrated into the routine care of HIV-infected children. Most of them are undernourished while receiving antiretroviral treatment. Malnutrition in children is particularly devastating because they are in the process of growth & development. It could result in severe illness and may affect recovery from infection. However, many of families are impoverished and unable to provide basic food for their HIV-infected children. They need food assistance!
We provide edible food packs to HIV-infected Swazi children with essential nutrients & fiber, including 0.5L of cooking oil, 1KG of beans & 2.5KG of maize meal. Swazi makes polenta with food packs for child or infant as non-staple foodstuff. A child aged 0-10 years receives 1 food pack & a child aged 11-14 years receives 2 food packs monthly. As many of families are impoverished, the provision of food supplementation will be beneficial. Through our project, we hope children are free from hunger.
Children with HIV infection have higher energy requirements and frequent infections that will delay recovery. Several studies in the world have shown that most of HIV-infected children were stunted, wasted and underweight. The goal of the program is to empower HIV-infected children in vulnerable family and give them an opportunity to recover from infection with more energy. TFCF food packs provide a long-term solution to support HIV-infected children and help them be free from hunger.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
